ANI |
Updated: Nov 18, 2023 08:59 IST

Islamabad [Pakistan], November 18 (ANI): All 5 public sector hospitals in Islamabad and Lahore‘s Shaikh Zayed Hospital could face a digital standstill after the Finance Division rejected a request by the federal well being ministry to supply Pakistani rupee (PKR) 11 billion for the graceful functioning of those hospitals, Dawn reported.
Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper.
Already, salaries for a variety of workers have been stopped and nurses on the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) have been protesting for over per week now.
The labs of those hospitals will even quickly cease functioning utterly, as testing kits are working out of inventory. Radiology assessments are additionally being refused as a result of movies usually are not obtainable, and medicines are being denied to sufferers because the tender quantity has not been paid to firms, as per Dawn.
The hospitals and departments that can be affected due to the choice embody 5 hospitals within the federal capital: Pims, Polyclinic, Federal General Hospital, National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM), dispensaries, primary well being models, ancillary departments of the well being ministry, and institutes.
Shaikh Zayed Hospital Lahore will even be affected as it’s run with the funding of the federal well being ministry.
The Finance Division has knowledgeable the well being ministry in writing that, as per the preconditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), funds can solely be launched in case of a catastrophe.

Pakistan‘s well being ministry final month requested the finance ministry to launch a supplementary grant of PKR 11.096 billion for the graceful functioning of hospitals, organisations, and ancillary departments of the ministry.
The letter written by the Finance Division and obtainable with Dawn acknowledged: “M/O National Health Services’ proposal for supplementary/technical supplementary grant for PKR 11.096 billion has been considered in Finance Division. As per commitment with the IMF, no supplementary grant for any additional unbudgeted spending over the parliamentary approved level in FY 2023-24 may be allowed until the formation of new Government (except if needed to respond to severe national disaster).”
According to sources aware about developments, the refusal by the Finance Division will set off a digital catastrophe in hospitals run by the federal ministry and sufferers could not even get a single rupee’s price of medicines.
“We currently foresee a severe shortage of medicines as we don’t have the amount to pay for the tenders and get the pending stocks released. Moreover, there is also a severe shortage of testing kits in labs, and X-ray films and other radiology tests are also in short supply,” a hospital supply advised Dawn.
The supply added that the scenario could worsen additional as a variety of docs, nurses, and different employees within the hospitals are both not getting their salaries or their salaries can be stopped subsequent month due to the unavailability of funds.
“In the coming months, there might be a severe shortage of doctors, nursing staff, medicines, and facilities of tests, even in emergency departments may be stopped. If that situation cannot be called a disaster, then what else should be called?”
Dawn tried to achieve out to Pakistan‘s Ministry of National Health Services, however officers couldn’t be reached for remark. (ANI)